SGA fic: The Desert of Rejoicing
Title: The Desert of Rejoicing
Author: Kajikia
Rating: PG
Category: gen
Spoilers: general season one
Summary:"We make our own families from the pieces we have."
Emergency pinch-hit fic for the Back to Basics: Atlantis Challenge. kiarasayre wanted:
a. An at-least-vaguely intelligent Ford.
b. First-season team!fic, with an emphasis on Teyla and Ford.
c. Anything, really, that doesn't entirely focus on the McKay/Sheppard banter.
This is a little bit of all three.
On the other side of the stargate was a vast and trackless desert. The dunes rolled out beneath them in shades of apricot and gold. From the jumper, the sand looked as soft and silky as powdered sugar, but Ford knew it wouldn't feel like that. Up close, it would be searingly hot to the touch, and rough. It would get into your boots, and your clothes, and your lungs, and scrape your skin raw, and you would carry it with you even after you left. Ford didn't really like the desert.
"Are you sure there's people here?" Sheppard asked.
"My father visited the Njeri before I was born," Teyla said, "but since the ring of the Ancestors on this planet is so isolated, they do not trade much with offworlders. I have not heard how they have fared."
Ford glanced at Teyla over his shoulder. She gave him a serene smile, but she still seemed tense to him, holding herself too still.
"Why would the Ancients put a stargate in the middle of the desert?"
"Climate change," McKay said. "When the Ancients built it, this whole area was probably all temperate and lush, but a lot can change in ten thousand years."
The jumper rose up over the crest of a particularly tall dune and the mountains appeared suddenly sharp before them.
"Hey," Sheppard said, "I guess there are people here after all."
Spread out before them near the foothills of the mountains was an encampment: tents, and livestock, and people in long, flowing robes. The appearance of the jumper threw the camp into an uproar. Riders broke away to chase them, and some of them were carrying long, narrow cylinders.
Ford had a bad feeling about that. "That doesn't look like the welcome wagon, sir."
Behind him, McKay snorted. "Please, like these people have even mastered gunpowd-"
The blast from the energy weapon slapped the jumper sideways. Sheppard cursed.
"I've lost the starboard drive-pod-"
The remaining drive-pod screamed and the sudden thrust imbalance flipped the jumper on its side, driving it downwards, and Ford's world went black.
***
"Don't make any sudden moves, Lieutenant," Sheppard said.
Ford blinked and lifted his head. Several robed figures were standing outside the jumper, looking in at them. It was hard to tell, since their faces were veiled, but they looked more confused than angry. Ford smiled, and raised his hands, and tried to look harmless.
"I'm going to open the jumper doors-"
"Are you crazy?" McKay asked. "You want to invite in the people who just shot us down?"
"Look," Sheppard said, "nobody's actually pointing a weapon at us at the moment. I think we should make a friendly gesture. Besides, they just shot the jumper down. I don't think they're going to have a problem getting in if they want to."
"The Njeri have never been known for being...inhospitable," Teyla said.
"See? It's going to be fine," Sheppard said, and opened the door.
The Njeri standing behind the jumper startled back, and two raised their weapons.
"You were saying?" McKay muttered, but Teyla rose and walked out, so they had no choice but to follow.
Teyla's movements were slow and graceful, and she held her empty hands out at her sides. Ford kept an eye on McKay, so he could kick him in the ankle if he opened his mouth.
"Greetings. We are peaceful explorers. I am Teyla, daughter of Mkali of the Isiyoshindika clan."
Ford shot her a startled look. He'd never heard her introduce herself like that before. Even McKay frowned.
The Njeri seemed equally startled, and there was a sudden hiss of whispers. Then a tall woman in the back stepped forward and took down her veil. Her teeth flashed white against her dark skin as she laughed. "Children!" she cried. "Is this how you welcome a daughter of your clan?"
***
They were welcomed enthusiastically. The weapons disappeared (which had become Ford's standard of a good meeting) and the riders apologized profusely for mistaking them for a Wraith dart and shooting at them. Everyone came up to kiss Teyla on both cheeks and call her sister. Then someone got the impression that Ford, Sheppard, and McKay were her husbands, and everyone kissed them on the cheeks and called them brother. When that misunderstanding was straightened out, they had to be kissed all over again and called guest-friend. There was a lot of cheering and laughing, and small children and livestock came to stare. All of this happened on a slow procession through the camp to the biggest of the tents, where they met the head of the clan, a small grey-haired woman with fierce eyes. She looked Teyla up and down, declared that she had Mkali's eyes, and embraced her as a daughter.
She also redirected the welcoming frenzy into preparing a feast, which took some of the attention off of them, before ushering Teyla into her tent. As soon as they were free, McKay hustled off to check out the jumper. Sheppard sighed, caught Ford's eye, and jerked his chin in McKay's direction. Sheppard himself settled down to wait by the clanmother's tent, projecting his best "I'm just standing here because I've got nothing better to do, not at all because I'm concerned that your leader might do something nefarious to my teammate." It was about as convincing as it ever was.
The Njeri-and Ford was going to have to hear their clan name several more times before he'd try to think it, let alone say it-put up a kind of open air tent around the jumper, so at least he had shade while he kept an eye on McKay.
After awhile, McKay said, "All right," and stood up. He blinked at the tent, momentarily surprised, then clicked his radio on. "Major Sheppard."
"Go ahead."
"The blast fused the control circuits on the starboard side. The good news is the drive-pod itself isn't damaged, so I just have to reroute the circuits internally."
"So we don't have to walk home."
"Don't be ridiculous, Major. If the jumper were damaged beyond repair, we could just call home and get another team to come pick us up, since we could presumably ask Teyla's relatives not to shoot them down."
"We're close enough to the gate for that?" Ford asked.
"Ah..." McKay checked something on his datapad. "If I reroute power to the radio to boost the signal, yes."
"Do it," Sheppard said. "And let Elizabeth know we have a dinner engagement."
***
They held the feast after dark, outside, since none of the tents could hold everyone. They set up long, low tables in front of a bonfire, and piled them high with food. There were two different kinds of roast meat, rubbed with some smoky, exotic spice. There was dried fruit stewed with other spices, and a sour relish of pickled vegetables. McKay had to pass on the boiled grain like a cross between rice and barley, dressed with fresh herbs and a citrus-like juice. There were baskets of warm flatbread and rounds of a soft, sharp cheese, and for dessert there was a bittersweet tea and more of the flatbread, cut into strips and glazed with something like a cross between cinnamon and ginger.
All along the table were glass spheres the size of basketballs that emitted a warm golden light. McKay, of course, had to pick one of them up immediately.
"We call them sun catchers," a man across the table said. "We place them outside during the day and they shine all night long."
"Solar powered," McKay said absently. "Cool to the touch...Do you make these?"
"Not any more. They, and the weapons you, ah, encountered earlier, and a few other relics are all that is left of our ancestors' great society."
McKay looked up with interest at that. "A great society, really?"
The man nodded. "They rose to great heights during the fallow years, but were utterly destroyed by the Wraith during the last great harvest. There are not even ruins left. We who are their descendants returned to the way of the wanderer, and kept only these little remnants of their knowledge and power."
McKay's face fell.
"It is not an uncommon story in this galaxy," Teyla said.
"I am saddened but not surprised to hear that," the man said. "More bread?"
Aside from the food and the sun catchers, it reminded Ford of Fourth of July barbecues at his grandparents' house. Not so much because of the Njeri's skin color, although Sheppard and McKay stood out for a change, but because of the sheer boisterousness of it all. Everyone was laughing and talking and eating with the kind of good-natured rudeness that only family will tolerate. And Dhakiya, the clanmother, presided over it all like his grandmother had, although Ford was pretty sure his grandmother wouldn't be caught dead with grey hair.
After dinner, there was dancing. He didn't know how any could move after that much food, but three young girls pulled Teyla into the dancing, teaching her the steps as they went along. He watched her dance, gravely attentive to her instructors, graceful even with the unfamiliar movements.
Mayasa, the woman they had first spoken to by the jumper, sat down beside him and offered him a drink of something that turned out to be fermented milk. He just barely managed not to choke on it, and handed the wineskin back. He thought she might have smiled at that, but it might just have been the firelight.
"Do you think this celebration is excessive," she asked, "for someone who is a complete stranger?"
"No, I get it. Family is important. We have traditions like this, too, the prodigal son returning."
"Our children marry into other clans sometimes, but Mkali was the first in many generations to leave the planet, to go where we cannot follow. We are so happy that her blood has returned to us."
"Um," Ford said, not quite sure that it was his place to explain anything to her, but she caught his meaning immediately, and laughed.
"I know she has not come back to stay-with Mkali and Tagan's blood, I think she must be a born wanderer."
Ford hesitated, caught between curiosity and politeness, then asked, "You knew her father?"
"I met him, although the first time he came, I was younger than those girls," she said, nodding towards the dancers. "He said he was a trader, but no one walks over the empty sands for a love of material things. He came to see new stars, new people. Mkali was the same way, although I don't think she knew it until she saw him." Sadness flickered over her face, but then she grinned. "Of course, it didn't hurt that he was ridiculously good-looking as well."
She offered him the wineskin again and he took it, holding her eyes as he swallowed. It wasn't as bad the second time, better than a Cement Mixer shot, anyway. She laughed again, then one of her husbands swung by and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the dance.
McKay had dragged Sheppard off to talk to someone about their energy weapons. Ford let himself be talked into trying some of the dance steps, to the great delight of young and old alike. When he finally called it a night, he didn't see any of his team around the fire.
He went back to check on the jumper and found Teyla sitting on the mound of sand the jumper had pushed up when it crashed. She was watching the bonfire, and she looked alone and...sad, so he went and sat next to her.
She gave him a little smile, and he suddenly felt like he was intruding, and didn't know what to say.
"So these are your mother's people?" he blurted. "You never visited them before?"
Her smile became a little more genuine. "It is a long walk from the gate to the Isiyoshindika clan's territory."
It had taken them nearly an hour in the jumper. Ford had no idea how long it would take on foot.
"My parents always intended to bring me back, when I was old enough to make the journey. But my mother died when I was young, and my father...did not want to think about her after that. So we never came. After he died, I had a duty to my people. And...I had not heard anything of them. I think I was afraid to come, to find that they had suffered as my people had, or perhaps not to find them at all."
They were silent for a moment, listening to the music coming from the dancing. The song changed, and Teyla gave a choked little laugh.
"My mother used to sing this to me. It is one of the few things I remember clearly about her. I wish I had-" She broke off.
"I never really knew my mom or dad-I was raised by my grandparents," he said without thinking about it, then flinched. He tried not to mention it to other people, because they always wanted to know what happened to his parents. But Teyla only nodded, and he realized one of the benefits of living in the Pegasus Galaxy was that no one asked about the gaps in your family history, or the people you didn't talk about.
"We make our own families from the pieces we have," she said.
He looked down, then quickly bumped her shoulder with his. She smiled at him again, and leaned over a little, so their shoulders were touching, and they watched the fire die like that.
***
Ford had a theory that small children, like cats, gravitated to the people who liked them the least. Not the abusive ones, just the ones who would be most aggravated by their presence. Which was why they were clustered around the back of the jumper, watching McKay work. Ford lured them away with chocolate before McKay snapped completely.
"One of these days we're going to find a planet where they are mortally allergic to chocolate, and that diplomatic technique of yours will end very badly," McKay shouted after him.
"Hey, you're right-maybe I should just let them go back to what they were doing."
McKay shut the jumper door.
After the chocolate was gone, they sat in the shade of the jumper and the kids told him the names of the different types of livestock that wandered by. The hairy ones that looked like a cross between a sheep and a sheep dog were okuni. The ones that looked like camels, except with horns and without humps, were uuthyn and were used for carrying things. The smaller, slimmer version was the ikit, which was for riding. And the chicken-like things were-
"Chickens," Ame said solemnly.
"Oh," Ford said.
Sheppard and Teyla came back in the late afternoon.
"How are the repairs going?" Sheppard asked.
"The damage goes deeper than I thought. I probably won't be done before dark."
"Great. So you can come hunting with us."
"What?"
"Taalib invited us to go hunting tonight." Sheppard gestured vaguely towards the mountains. "Apparently it's traditional."
"You're going at night?"
"Jhasath are cold-blooded, so they are less dangerous at night," Teyla explained.
"So what do you say?"
McKay looked at Ford. "I think he's talking to you."
Ford grinned. "Thanks, sir, but I prefer to do my giant lizard killing on strictly self-defense basis."
Sheppard shrugged. "Your loss."
"Don't bring me back anything," McKay said.
Ford watched the sunset propped up against the jumper. He was just starting to think about dinner when McKay cursed loud enough to be heard before he even keyed his radio.
"The gate just opened. We've got Wraith darts incoming!"
Shit, Ford thought, and scrambled into the jumper.
"ETA?" Sheppard snapped.
"At their current speed, half an hour, maybe less."
"You guys will never make it down in time." Ford had his eyes on the HUD; the darts were still coming through.
"How's the jumper?"
"It's not going anywhere," McKay said.
"Taalib says there are caves, defensible caves, near the camp," Teyla said. "You should have enough time to get there. Tell Dhakiya what's happening."
"Major-"
"Lieutenant, here's what we're going to do. You are going to warn the Njeri and you are going to evacuate everyone to the caves. We will meet you there. Is that understood?"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"Go talk to Dhakiya," McKay said, off radio. "I'll stay with the sensors."
Ford ran for the center of camp. The great tent was unguarded; he brushed the flap aside and went in. Dhakiya was sitting at an inlaid folding table, writing by the light of a single sun catcher, and she looked up in surprise when he entered.
He couldn't remember the right honorifics or gestures, barely remembered to take his hat off. Instinct took over. He knelt before her and said, "Grandmother, the Wraith are coming."
"How many?"
He tapped his radio. "McKay, how many?"
"Twenty-seven and counting."
"They never come in such numbers during the fallow years."
Ford realized they might have forgotten to mention this part last night. "The Wraith have awakened early."
She sucked in a breath, but didn't argue. She clapped her hands sharply and a girl appeared. "Find Mayasa and bring her to me immediately. It is an emergency."
The girl nodded, wide-eyed, and ran off.
"Ekevu!" Dhakiya shouted.
A stout, smiling, grey-haired man stepped through the curtains that separated the private part of the tent. "Yes, my songbird?"
"The Wraith have awakened early and are coming." Ekevu stopped smiling. "We must evacuate the camp. Saddle all the ikit-everyone rides. Leave the rest of the animals behind. Find a mount for this one. Do you ride?" she asked Ford.
"Ah, no, ma'am."
"Find him a docile one, then."
Ekevu kissed her quickly on the mouth, and was gone. Mayasa appeared a few moments later.
"The Wraith are coming. We are evacuating. Sound the order, and send up the signal. Everyone rides. Your father is getting the ikit ready. Weapons and water only. Everyone leaves as soon as they are able." Dhakiya's voice was swift and precise and terribly, terribly calm. "And take this one with you-I'm sure he'd be willing to help."
"Yes, ma'am," Ford said. Mayasa gave a little half-bow and strode out of the tent. She stopped to grab a hunting horn and a large pouch that were hanging on a tent-pole before she left.
Ford imitated her bow to Dhakiya and scrambled after her. It was full dark. She went over to the open space around the cooking fires and blew three sharp blasts on the horn. There was a moment of complete, stunned silence in the camp, and then sudden chaos. Mayasa ignored the confusion and opened the pouch. She pulled out a few small bundles, stabbing them upright into the sand, then pulled out a small metal tube. She flicked the lid off and the end started glowing. She held it to the tail of one of the bundles, like she was setting off-
With a thin squeal the bundle rocketed off the ground, arcing up into the sky. It burst into a cloud of luminous red and white sparks that seemed to hang in the air high above them.
- fireworks.
"What are you doing?" Ford hissed, grabbing her arm. "You'll bring them straight here!"
She shrugged off his hand and returned his glare. "It will draw them to the camp, which we are abandoning. Besides, there is nowhere on this planet that they will not find us. This way we at least warn the other clans."
"What?"
She gestured east and Ford followed her hand to see, on the horizon, another red starburst. There was one on the western horizon, too, and after a moment another appeared even further down.
Three riders pulled up beside them. They had an extra ikit with them. Mayasa grabbed the reins and mounted, snapping out orders the entire time. The riders whirled off into the chaos and others appeared to get their instructions. Ford had never seen a civilian evacuation go so fast. It was not quiet or orderly by any means, and he learned some really filthy new phrases, but they had most of the camp headed for the hills in under twenty minutes. And it looked like everyone was actually taking only water and weapons.
McKay said the same thing every time he asked: "Still coming through."
A teenager rode up with another free ikit. Mayasa looked around and caught Ford's eye.
"Naasir will take you to the caves. He can show you how to use one of the shouldered weapons as well."
Ford fought down the urge to salute and nodded instead. He eyed the saddle. There were no stirrups. Okay, then.
"Look, I have to go back to the ship to get my friend."
Naasir frowned. "Is someone getting him a mount?"
"Don't worry about it," Ford said.
It might have been easier to get back to the jumper if he'd been riding the ikit, but Ford pretended he didn't want to trample anyone.
"McKay!" he shouted. "Your ride's here."
McKay came out in full gear. "I realize it's dark, but I'm only seeing one free horse here."
Ford stepped in close. "How much longer can they keep the gate open?"
"Eighteen minutes. Why?"
"As soon as it closes, I'm going to dial out so they can't send reinforcements."
"You do realize the first darts will be here before then."
"Yeah-" Something scrambled down the dune behind them. Ford spun around and brought his P-90 up. In the beam of the flashlight were three kids. They couldn't have been older than twelve. The youngest was in tears.
"Are they here yet?" one asked breathlessly.
"What are you doing? Do your parents know where you are?" Naasir looked furious.
"They think we are with Gheche's family."
Ford almost laughed-some things were apparently universal.
"Well," McKay said. "You couldn't have fired the drones without the gene anyway."
They put the older two kids on the free ikit and handed the youngest to Naasir.
Naasir looked torn. "I'll send someone back with more mounts."
"Don't waste time," Ford said. "The ship has weapons. We'll be fine."
"Just go, damn it!" McKay yelled, and they galloped off into the darkness.
McKay cloaked the jumper and called up the lifesigns detector on the HUD. It merged with the sensors' display of the darts. They watched the Wraith close in on them and last wave of evacuees.
"Even if the ship's cloaked, the Wraith are still going to be able to tell where the drones are coming from, right?" Ford asked after a minute.
"Um, possibly. Unless I, wait..." McKay's hands flew over the controls. "Okay. I can send the drones out in stealth mode. They'll fly low for about fifty meters, then arm themselves and go up. The Wraith should track them back to where they arm themselves, instead of to us."
Ford waited until the last minute to tell Sheppard they were staying with the jumper.
"What?" he said. "Why?"
"Oh, it was a difficult decision," McKay said. "Ride three kilometers across open desert on a miniature alien camel to hide in caves, or stay with the magical, invisible spaceship."
"We don't have time to evacuate now, sir."
"Just don't do anything stupid."
Ford looked at McKay. "I think he's talking to you."
"Ha. Ha."
"Look on the bright side, Doc. At least now when they tell your sister that you died saving children, it won't be a lie."
McKay gave him a sour look. "Strangely enough, that doesn't make me feel better," he said, and the Wraith were upon them.
"There's still people in the open."
"I know, I know, I'm working on it!" McKay said. Suddenly a trio of drones seemed to rise up out of a patch of bare sand, bringing down the foremost darts.
The outriders had stopped and were shooting as well. Their energy weapons must have exploited a weakness in the darts' design, because the blasts did way more damage to them than they'd done to the jumper.
McKay and the outriders kept the darts out of beaming range, until one slipped in beneath the cover of another dart's explosion and scooped up the last dozen or so evacuees. As it arced back towards the gate, two outriders who hadn't been in the path of the beam shot it down.
"Their own people were on board!" McKay said, sounding shocked.
"I don't think they're planning on a rescue mission after this." And going down with the dart was a better death than anything they'd find on the Hive ship.
The stream of darts was spreading out now, heading into the territories of other clans. Ford kept his eyes on the gate display. As soon as the wormhole closed, he dialed.
"Atlantis, this is Jumper One. Keep the shield up. I repeat, keep the shield up." He explained the situation and broke radio contact.
"They're only coming though the gate, right?" he asked.
"Yes, as far as I can tell. I've boosted the long-range sensors, too, there's nothing in orbit. Unless it's on the other side of the planet."
Ford frowned at the HUD. "Where did those new lifesigns come from?"
They figured it out when one walked in front of the jumper. Ford's hands tightened on the P-90 and he had to remind himself they were cloaked.
"Sheppard," McKay said. "There are Wraith on the ground."
"Copy that," Sheppard said, and there was a minute of silence.
"Teyla's going to arrange for a rockslide to block off the entrance to the caves. We're probably going to lose radio contact. So, ah, we'll talk to you in the morning."
McKay acknowledged. Thirty eight minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness. Ford noted with perverse satisfaction that a lot fewer darts were returning to the gate than had come through. They hesitated and pulled back when they got to the gate, seeming to recognize that it wasn't their wormhole.
The only advantage they had over the Wraith was that they knew exactly when the wormhole would close. Ford had his hand over the first symbol for the last ten seconds. He punched in the gate address.
"You know what this jumper needs? A redial button. Atlantis, are you there?"
When the gate technician's voice came back over the radio, he blew out a deep, relieved breath. Some of the darts started going through, though.
"Jumper One, we are getting inbound matter-streams."
"Keep the shield up!" Ford looked at McKay. "What the-"
"They don't realize we can remote dial the gate. They must think one of them dialed it, and they're not even bothering to radio in and check! Okay, maybe that one is, but I can take care of that..."
McKay saved the rest of the drones for any of the darts that were sending radio signals, but the majority just followed the herd through the gate, and into Atlantis's shields.
***
Ford dialed Atlantis twice more after that.
"We can't keep the gate open indefinitely," McKay said. "Might as well see what happens."
Nothing happened.
"They need time to regroup," Sheppard said in the morning, after the rubble had been cleared and people had begun returning to camp. "From their perspective, they sent over a hundred darts through the gate and they all disappeared, and then they couldn't redial that address. They're either going to decide something is wrong with this gate and give up on it-"
"Or they're going to come back with everything they've got and crush this planet like a bug."
"Not exactly a win-win situation."
Teyla joined them, covered in rock dust and scrapes, and did the Athosian forehead thing with each of them. Even McKay accepted it with good grace.
"Did Naasir and the kids make it?" Ford asked.
"I do not know. But-" She looked over at Ekevu, who was checking the feet of several ikit. His face was grim and ashen in the pale dawn light, and Ford knew what she was going to say.
"Mayasa didn't."
"She was with the last group, the group that was taken."
There was a moment of silence, then McKay said, "Does anybody else think it's interesting that the Wraith only came through the stargate?"
Ford still had no idea whether McKay did shit like that intentionally, or if he was just really oblivious.
"I assume that's a rhetorical question," Sheppard said dryly.
McKay waved that off. "When I was scanning for ships in orbit, I got some very interesting readings. The surface of the sun here is unusually active. We're talking class X solar flares every five to ten minutes. Fortunately, the atmosphere is very thick and the planet has a large magnetosphere, so we don't really notice it down here. But you wouldn't want to spend a lot of time in orbit without some seriously hardcore shielding."
"Shielding that Wraith ships don't have?"
"It's a good bet. I mean, using the gate to cull a planet? Really inefficient. Maybe the reason they don't send a Hive ship is that they can't."
"So if the gate were destroyed or, or disabled, the Wraith would not be able to cull this planet?" Teyla's eyes were fierce and intent as she spoke.
McKay hesitated. "If my theory is correct, yes."
"But they could just be using the gate because it's easier," Sheppard said. "Maybe they do have good shielding, and if we disabled the gate, they'd get the Hive ship out and come anyway. The Njeri would be sitting ducks."
"The Njeri are no less vulnerable now. Doctor McKay, can you prevent the Wraith from using the gate?"
"Off the top of my head, I can think of a dozen ways to disable the gate-from this side."
"But you could show the Njeri what to do, and they could do it after we left?"
"But then you've got a bunch of Njeri stuck in the middle of the Sahara Desert," Ford said.
"It is not an impossible journey," Teyla replied. "And anyone in the galaxy would take that risk if it meant even a chance of protecting their people from the Wraith."
"We could leave caches of water along the way," Sheppard said slowly.
"They could still get lost! Or there could be a sandstorm, or, or giant desert lizards!"
" 'Giant desert lizards'?" Sheppard said.
"They have them on this planet!"
"Do you have a better plan?" McKay asked.
"I could blow up the gate."
"Actually, no, I don't think there's enough C4 in the galaxy to destroy a stargate."
"No, I mean-they buried the one on Earth, right? I could set a shaped charge around the base, a couple more up on the hillside on a delayed timer, rig it all with a radio trigger. We go through, send the signal back, the base is destroyed, the gate falls down flat, the other charges go, create a landslide and cover the gate with sand."
Everyone stared at Ford for a moment.
"Okay, that would work," McKay said.
"I have to talk to Dhakiya," Teyla said, and left.
"Did you bring enough C4 for that?" McKay asked.
Ford gave him an offended look.
Sheppard grinned. "The answer to that question is always 'yes.' "
"Not always-apparently I didn't bring enough to blow up a stargate."
"Don't sound so disappointed," McKay said.
***
In the end, the most difficult logistic problem was getting all the clan leaders together in one place. Dhakiya said the gate belonged to all the people of that world, and the Isiyoshindika clan could not make that decision for them. So Sheppard played taxi driver for two days, half of which was spent tracking down the leader of the pale-skinned seafaring people that lived in the Shining Islands in the Sea of Malaika's Tears. (It turned out to be a wasted day, as they did not in fact believe in the existence of the stargate and had no polite opinions on what to do with it. Barbarians, Dhakiya sniffed.)
It took another day of talking for anything to be resolved. At lunchtime, they broke into two groups to eat, separated by the jumper, because of on-going blood feuds. Dhakiya and Teyla had to eat inside the jumper, because the Isiyoshindika clan had blood feuds with clans in both groups. Apparently trading was a contact sport on their planet.
"I do not know why this is such a difficult choice," Dhakiya sighed. "The oases were dry by my grandfather's grandfather's time, and we have not sent a caravan down to trade since then. The sky ring is only a symbol to us now, and what is a symbol compared to the welfare of my people?"
"When you give up the ring, you give up all the possibilities it presents. You put limits on the future. Safety or freedom," Teyla said, glancing at her team. "It is a hard choice."
When they left, Dhakiya kissed both her cheeks and said, "May your blood return to us, even if it is not borne in this heart."
They dialed a gate that was in orbit-somehow, it felt wrong to have an audience. Ford hesitated, holding the trigger. He didn't ask, Are you sure? because if the options were never seeing your family again or having them all eaten by space vampires, the choice was pretty easy. Instead he said, "I can do it, if you want."
Teyla took a deep breath. "No," she said. "I am honored to do this for them."
She took the detonator and flipped the switch, and after a moment, the light in the gate died.
End
Author: Kajikia
Rating: PG
Category: gen
Spoilers: general season one
Summary:"We make our own families from the pieces we have."
Emergency pinch-hit fic for the Back to Basics: Atlantis Challenge. kiarasayre wanted:
a. An at-least-vaguely intelligent Ford.
b. First-season team!fic, with an emphasis on Teyla and Ford.
c. Anything, really, that doesn't entirely focus on the McKay/Sheppard banter.
This is a little bit of all three.
On the other side of the stargate was a vast and trackless desert. The dunes rolled out beneath them in shades of apricot and gold. From the jumper, the sand looked as soft and silky as powdered sugar, but Ford knew it wouldn't feel like that. Up close, it would be searingly hot to the touch, and rough. It would get into your boots, and your clothes, and your lungs, and scrape your skin raw, and you would carry it with you even after you left. Ford didn't really like the desert.
"Are you sure there's people here?" Sheppard asked.
"My father visited the Njeri before I was born," Teyla said, "but since the ring of the Ancestors on this planet is so isolated, they do not trade much with offworlders. I have not heard how they have fared."
Ford glanced at Teyla over his shoulder. She gave him a serene smile, but she still seemed tense to him, holding herself too still.
"Why would the Ancients put a stargate in the middle of the desert?"
"Climate change," McKay said. "When the Ancients built it, this whole area was probably all temperate and lush, but a lot can change in ten thousand years."
The jumper rose up over the crest of a particularly tall dune and the mountains appeared suddenly sharp before them.
"Hey," Sheppard said, "I guess there are people here after all."
Spread out before them near the foothills of the mountains was an encampment: tents, and livestock, and people in long, flowing robes. The appearance of the jumper threw the camp into an uproar. Riders broke away to chase them, and some of them were carrying long, narrow cylinders.
Ford had a bad feeling about that. "That doesn't look like the welcome wagon, sir."
Behind him, McKay snorted. "Please, like these people have even mastered gunpowd-"
The blast from the energy weapon slapped the jumper sideways. Sheppard cursed.
"I've lost the starboard drive-pod-"
The remaining drive-pod screamed and the sudden thrust imbalance flipped the jumper on its side, driving it downwards, and Ford's world went black.
***
"Don't make any sudden moves, Lieutenant," Sheppard said.
Ford blinked and lifted his head. Several robed figures were standing outside the jumper, looking in at them. It was hard to tell, since their faces were veiled, but they looked more confused than angry. Ford smiled, and raised his hands, and tried to look harmless.
"I'm going to open the jumper doors-"
"Are you crazy?" McKay asked. "You want to invite in the people who just shot us down?"
"Look," Sheppard said, "nobody's actually pointing a weapon at us at the moment. I think we should make a friendly gesture. Besides, they just shot the jumper down. I don't think they're going to have a problem getting in if they want to."
"The Njeri have never been known for being...inhospitable," Teyla said.
"See? It's going to be fine," Sheppard said, and opened the door.
The Njeri standing behind the jumper startled back, and two raised their weapons.
"You were saying?" McKay muttered, but Teyla rose and walked out, so they had no choice but to follow.
Teyla's movements were slow and graceful, and she held her empty hands out at her sides. Ford kept an eye on McKay, so he could kick him in the ankle if he opened his mouth.
"Greetings. We are peaceful explorers. I am Teyla, daughter of Mkali of the Isiyoshindika clan."
Ford shot her a startled look. He'd never heard her introduce herself like that before. Even McKay frowned.
The Njeri seemed equally startled, and there was a sudden hiss of whispers. Then a tall woman in the back stepped forward and took down her veil. Her teeth flashed white against her dark skin as she laughed. "Children!" she cried. "Is this how you welcome a daughter of your clan?"
***
They were welcomed enthusiastically. The weapons disappeared (which had become Ford's standard of a good meeting) and the riders apologized profusely for mistaking them for a Wraith dart and shooting at them. Everyone came up to kiss Teyla on both cheeks and call her sister. Then someone got the impression that Ford, Sheppard, and McKay were her husbands, and everyone kissed them on the cheeks and called them brother. When that misunderstanding was straightened out, they had to be kissed all over again and called guest-friend. There was a lot of cheering and laughing, and small children and livestock came to stare. All of this happened on a slow procession through the camp to the biggest of the tents, where they met the head of the clan, a small grey-haired woman with fierce eyes. She looked Teyla up and down, declared that she had Mkali's eyes, and embraced her as a daughter.
She also redirected the welcoming frenzy into preparing a feast, which took some of the attention off of them, before ushering Teyla into her tent. As soon as they were free, McKay hustled off to check out the jumper. Sheppard sighed, caught Ford's eye, and jerked his chin in McKay's direction. Sheppard himself settled down to wait by the clanmother's tent, projecting his best "I'm just standing here because I've got nothing better to do, not at all because I'm concerned that your leader might do something nefarious to my teammate." It was about as convincing as it ever was.
The Njeri-and Ford was going to have to hear their clan name several more times before he'd try to think it, let alone say it-put up a kind of open air tent around the jumper, so at least he had shade while he kept an eye on McKay.
After awhile, McKay said, "All right," and stood up. He blinked at the tent, momentarily surprised, then clicked his radio on. "Major Sheppard."
"Go ahead."
"The blast fused the control circuits on the starboard side. The good news is the drive-pod itself isn't damaged, so I just have to reroute the circuits internally."
"So we don't have to walk home."
"Don't be ridiculous, Major. If the jumper were damaged beyond repair, we could just call home and get another team to come pick us up, since we could presumably ask Teyla's relatives not to shoot them down."
"We're close enough to the gate for that?" Ford asked.
"Ah..." McKay checked something on his datapad. "If I reroute power to the radio to boost the signal, yes."
"Do it," Sheppard said. "And let Elizabeth know we have a dinner engagement."
***
They held the feast after dark, outside, since none of the tents could hold everyone. They set up long, low tables in front of a bonfire, and piled them high with food. There were two different kinds of roast meat, rubbed with some smoky, exotic spice. There was dried fruit stewed with other spices, and a sour relish of pickled vegetables. McKay had to pass on the boiled grain like a cross between rice and barley, dressed with fresh herbs and a citrus-like juice. There were baskets of warm flatbread and rounds of a soft, sharp cheese, and for dessert there was a bittersweet tea and more of the flatbread, cut into strips and glazed with something like a cross between cinnamon and ginger.
All along the table were glass spheres the size of basketballs that emitted a warm golden light. McKay, of course, had to pick one of them up immediately.
"We call them sun catchers," a man across the table said. "We place them outside during the day and they shine all night long."
"Solar powered," McKay said absently. "Cool to the touch...Do you make these?"
"Not any more. They, and the weapons you, ah, encountered earlier, and a few other relics are all that is left of our ancestors' great society."
McKay looked up with interest at that. "A great society, really?"
The man nodded. "They rose to great heights during the fallow years, but were utterly destroyed by the Wraith during the last great harvest. There are not even ruins left. We who are their descendants returned to the way of the wanderer, and kept only these little remnants of their knowledge and power."
McKay's face fell.
"It is not an uncommon story in this galaxy," Teyla said.
"I am saddened but not surprised to hear that," the man said. "More bread?"
Aside from the food and the sun catchers, it reminded Ford of Fourth of July barbecues at his grandparents' house. Not so much because of the Njeri's skin color, although Sheppard and McKay stood out for a change, but because of the sheer boisterousness of it all. Everyone was laughing and talking and eating with the kind of good-natured rudeness that only family will tolerate. And Dhakiya, the clanmother, presided over it all like his grandmother had, although Ford was pretty sure his grandmother wouldn't be caught dead with grey hair.
After dinner, there was dancing. He didn't know how any could move after that much food, but three young girls pulled Teyla into the dancing, teaching her the steps as they went along. He watched her dance, gravely attentive to her instructors, graceful even with the unfamiliar movements.
Mayasa, the woman they had first spoken to by the jumper, sat down beside him and offered him a drink of something that turned out to be fermented milk. He just barely managed not to choke on it, and handed the wineskin back. He thought she might have smiled at that, but it might just have been the firelight.
"Do you think this celebration is excessive," she asked, "for someone who is a complete stranger?"
"No, I get it. Family is important. We have traditions like this, too, the prodigal son returning."
"Our children marry into other clans sometimes, but Mkali was the first in many generations to leave the planet, to go where we cannot follow. We are so happy that her blood has returned to us."
"Um," Ford said, not quite sure that it was his place to explain anything to her, but she caught his meaning immediately, and laughed.
"I know she has not come back to stay-with Mkali and Tagan's blood, I think she must be a born wanderer."
Ford hesitated, caught between curiosity and politeness, then asked, "You knew her father?"
"I met him, although the first time he came, I was younger than those girls," she said, nodding towards the dancers. "He said he was a trader, but no one walks over the empty sands for a love of material things. He came to see new stars, new people. Mkali was the same way, although I don't think she knew it until she saw him." Sadness flickered over her face, but then she grinned. "Of course, it didn't hurt that he was ridiculously good-looking as well."
She offered him the wineskin again and he took it, holding her eyes as he swallowed. It wasn't as bad the second time, better than a Cement Mixer shot, anyway. She laughed again, then one of her husbands swung by and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the dance.
McKay had dragged Sheppard off to talk to someone about their energy weapons. Ford let himself be talked into trying some of the dance steps, to the great delight of young and old alike. When he finally called it a night, he didn't see any of his team around the fire.
He went back to check on the jumper and found Teyla sitting on the mound of sand the jumper had pushed up when it crashed. She was watching the bonfire, and she looked alone and...sad, so he went and sat next to her.
She gave him a little smile, and he suddenly felt like he was intruding, and didn't know what to say.
"So these are your mother's people?" he blurted. "You never visited them before?"
Her smile became a little more genuine. "It is a long walk from the gate to the Isiyoshindika clan's territory."
It had taken them nearly an hour in the jumper. Ford had no idea how long it would take on foot.
"My parents always intended to bring me back, when I was old enough to make the journey. But my mother died when I was young, and my father...did not want to think about her after that. So we never came. After he died, I had a duty to my people. And...I had not heard anything of them. I think I was afraid to come, to find that they had suffered as my people had, or perhaps not to find them at all."
They were silent for a moment, listening to the music coming from the dancing. The song changed, and Teyla gave a choked little laugh.
"My mother used to sing this to me. It is one of the few things I remember clearly about her. I wish I had-" She broke off.
"I never really knew my mom or dad-I was raised by my grandparents," he said without thinking about it, then flinched. He tried not to mention it to other people, because they always wanted to know what happened to his parents. But Teyla only nodded, and he realized one of the benefits of living in the Pegasus Galaxy was that no one asked about the gaps in your family history, or the people you didn't talk about.
"We make our own families from the pieces we have," she said.
He looked down, then quickly bumped her shoulder with his. She smiled at him again, and leaned over a little, so their shoulders were touching, and they watched the fire die like that.
***
Ford had a theory that small children, like cats, gravitated to the people who liked them the least. Not the abusive ones, just the ones who would be most aggravated by their presence. Which was why they were clustered around the back of the jumper, watching McKay work. Ford lured them away with chocolate before McKay snapped completely.
"One of these days we're going to find a planet where they are mortally allergic to chocolate, and that diplomatic technique of yours will end very badly," McKay shouted after him.
"Hey, you're right-maybe I should just let them go back to what they were doing."
McKay shut the jumper door.
After the chocolate was gone, they sat in the shade of the jumper and the kids told him the names of the different types of livestock that wandered by. The hairy ones that looked like a cross between a sheep and a sheep dog were okuni. The ones that looked like camels, except with horns and without humps, were uuthyn and were used for carrying things. The smaller, slimmer version was the ikit, which was for riding. And the chicken-like things were-
"Chickens," Ame said solemnly.
"Oh," Ford said.
Sheppard and Teyla came back in the late afternoon.
"How are the repairs going?" Sheppard asked.
"The damage goes deeper than I thought. I probably won't be done before dark."
"Great. So you can come hunting with us."
"What?"
"Taalib invited us to go hunting tonight." Sheppard gestured vaguely towards the mountains. "Apparently it's traditional."
"You're going at night?"
"Jhasath are cold-blooded, so they are less dangerous at night," Teyla explained.
"So what do you say?"
McKay looked at Ford. "I think he's talking to you."
Ford grinned. "Thanks, sir, but I prefer to do my giant lizard killing on strictly self-defense basis."
Sheppard shrugged. "Your loss."
"Don't bring me back anything," McKay said.
Ford watched the sunset propped up against the jumper. He was just starting to think about dinner when McKay cursed loud enough to be heard before he even keyed his radio.
"The gate just opened. We've got Wraith darts incoming!"
Shit, Ford thought, and scrambled into the jumper.
"ETA?" Sheppard snapped.
"At their current speed, half an hour, maybe less."
"You guys will never make it down in time." Ford had his eyes on the HUD; the darts were still coming through.
"How's the jumper?"
"It's not going anywhere," McKay said.
"Taalib says there are caves, defensible caves, near the camp," Teyla said. "You should have enough time to get there. Tell Dhakiya what's happening."
"Major-"
"Lieutenant, here's what we're going to do. You are going to warn the Njeri and you are going to evacuate everyone to the caves. We will meet you there. Is that understood?"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"Go talk to Dhakiya," McKay said, off radio. "I'll stay with the sensors."
Ford ran for the center of camp. The great tent was unguarded; he brushed the flap aside and went in. Dhakiya was sitting at an inlaid folding table, writing by the light of a single sun catcher, and she looked up in surprise when he entered.
He couldn't remember the right honorifics or gestures, barely remembered to take his hat off. Instinct took over. He knelt before her and said, "Grandmother, the Wraith are coming."
"How many?"
He tapped his radio. "McKay, how many?"
"Twenty-seven and counting."
"They never come in such numbers during the fallow years."
Ford realized they might have forgotten to mention this part last night. "The Wraith have awakened early."
She sucked in a breath, but didn't argue. She clapped her hands sharply and a girl appeared. "Find Mayasa and bring her to me immediately. It is an emergency."
The girl nodded, wide-eyed, and ran off.
"Ekevu!" Dhakiya shouted.
A stout, smiling, grey-haired man stepped through the curtains that separated the private part of the tent. "Yes, my songbird?"
"The Wraith have awakened early and are coming." Ekevu stopped smiling. "We must evacuate the camp. Saddle all the ikit-everyone rides. Leave the rest of the animals behind. Find a mount for this one. Do you ride?" she asked Ford.
"Ah, no, ma'am."
"Find him a docile one, then."
Ekevu kissed her quickly on the mouth, and was gone. Mayasa appeared a few moments later.
"The Wraith are coming. We are evacuating. Sound the order, and send up the signal. Everyone rides. Your father is getting the ikit ready. Weapons and water only. Everyone leaves as soon as they are able." Dhakiya's voice was swift and precise and terribly, terribly calm. "And take this one with you-I'm sure he'd be willing to help."
"Yes, ma'am," Ford said. Mayasa gave a little half-bow and strode out of the tent. She stopped to grab a hunting horn and a large pouch that were hanging on a tent-pole before she left.
Ford imitated her bow to Dhakiya and scrambled after her. It was full dark. She went over to the open space around the cooking fires and blew three sharp blasts on the horn. There was a moment of complete, stunned silence in the camp, and then sudden chaos. Mayasa ignored the confusion and opened the pouch. She pulled out a few small bundles, stabbing them upright into the sand, then pulled out a small metal tube. She flicked the lid off and the end started glowing. She held it to the tail of one of the bundles, like she was setting off-
With a thin squeal the bundle rocketed off the ground, arcing up into the sky. It burst into a cloud of luminous red and white sparks that seemed to hang in the air high above them.
- fireworks.
"What are you doing?" Ford hissed, grabbing her arm. "You'll bring them straight here!"
She shrugged off his hand and returned his glare. "It will draw them to the camp, which we are abandoning. Besides, there is nowhere on this planet that they will not find us. This way we at least warn the other clans."
"What?"
She gestured east and Ford followed her hand to see, on the horizon, another red starburst. There was one on the western horizon, too, and after a moment another appeared even further down.
Three riders pulled up beside them. They had an extra ikit with them. Mayasa grabbed the reins and mounted, snapping out orders the entire time. The riders whirled off into the chaos and others appeared to get their instructions. Ford had never seen a civilian evacuation go so fast. It was not quiet or orderly by any means, and he learned some really filthy new phrases, but they had most of the camp headed for the hills in under twenty minutes. And it looked like everyone was actually taking only water and weapons.
McKay said the same thing every time he asked: "Still coming through."
A teenager rode up with another free ikit. Mayasa looked around and caught Ford's eye.
"Naasir will take you to the caves. He can show you how to use one of the shouldered weapons as well."
Ford fought down the urge to salute and nodded instead. He eyed the saddle. There were no stirrups. Okay, then.
"Look, I have to go back to the ship to get my friend."
Naasir frowned. "Is someone getting him a mount?"
"Don't worry about it," Ford said.
It might have been easier to get back to the jumper if he'd been riding the ikit, but Ford pretended he didn't want to trample anyone.
"McKay!" he shouted. "Your ride's here."
McKay came out in full gear. "I realize it's dark, but I'm only seeing one free horse here."
Ford stepped in close. "How much longer can they keep the gate open?"
"Eighteen minutes. Why?"
"As soon as it closes, I'm going to dial out so they can't send reinforcements."
"You do realize the first darts will be here before then."
"Yeah-" Something scrambled down the dune behind them. Ford spun around and brought his P-90 up. In the beam of the flashlight were three kids. They couldn't have been older than twelve. The youngest was in tears.
"Are they here yet?" one asked breathlessly.
"What are you doing? Do your parents know where you are?" Naasir looked furious.
"They think we are with Gheche's family."
Ford almost laughed-some things were apparently universal.
"Well," McKay said. "You couldn't have fired the drones without the gene anyway."
They put the older two kids on the free ikit and handed the youngest to Naasir.
Naasir looked torn. "I'll send someone back with more mounts."
"Don't waste time," Ford said. "The ship has weapons. We'll be fine."
"Just go, damn it!" McKay yelled, and they galloped off into the darkness.
McKay cloaked the jumper and called up the lifesigns detector on the HUD. It merged with the sensors' display of the darts. They watched the Wraith close in on them and last wave of evacuees.
"Even if the ship's cloaked, the Wraith are still going to be able to tell where the drones are coming from, right?" Ford asked after a minute.
"Um, possibly. Unless I, wait..." McKay's hands flew over the controls. "Okay. I can send the drones out in stealth mode. They'll fly low for about fifty meters, then arm themselves and go up. The Wraith should track them back to where they arm themselves, instead of to us."
Ford waited until the last minute to tell Sheppard they were staying with the jumper.
"What?" he said. "Why?"
"Oh, it was a difficult decision," McKay said. "Ride three kilometers across open desert on a miniature alien camel to hide in caves, or stay with the magical, invisible spaceship."
"We don't have time to evacuate now, sir."
"Just don't do anything stupid."
Ford looked at McKay. "I think he's talking to you."
"Ha. Ha."
"Look on the bright side, Doc. At least now when they tell your sister that you died saving children, it won't be a lie."
McKay gave him a sour look. "Strangely enough, that doesn't make me feel better," he said, and the Wraith were upon them.
"There's still people in the open."
"I know, I know, I'm working on it!" McKay said. Suddenly a trio of drones seemed to rise up out of a patch of bare sand, bringing down the foremost darts.
The outriders had stopped and were shooting as well. Their energy weapons must have exploited a weakness in the darts' design, because the blasts did way more damage to them than they'd done to the jumper.
McKay and the outriders kept the darts out of beaming range, until one slipped in beneath the cover of another dart's explosion and scooped up the last dozen or so evacuees. As it arced back towards the gate, two outriders who hadn't been in the path of the beam shot it down.
"Their own people were on board!" McKay said, sounding shocked.
"I don't think they're planning on a rescue mission after this." And going down with the dart was a better death than anything they'd find on the Hive ship.
The stream of darts was spreading out now, heading into the territories of other clans. Ford kept his eyes on the gate display. As soon as the wormhole closed, he dialed.
"Atlantis, this is Jumper One. Keep the shield up. I repeat, keep the shield up." He explained the situation and broke radio contact.
"They're only coming though the gate, right?" he asked.
"Yes, as far as I can tell. I've boosted the long-range sensors, too, there's nothing in orbit. Unless it's on the other side of the planet."
Ford frowned at the HUD. "Where did those new lifesigns come from?"
They figured it out when one walked in front of the jumper. Ford's hands tightened on the P-90 and he had to remind himself they were cloaked.
"Sheppard," McKay said. "There are Wraith on the ground."
"Copy that," Sheppard said, and there was a minute of silence.
"Teyla's going to arrange for a rockslide to block off the entrance to the caves. We're probably going to lose radio contact. So, ah, we'll talk to you in the morning."
McKay acknowledged. Thirty eight minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness. Ford noted with perverse satisfaction that a lot fewer darts were returning to the gate than had come through. They hesitated and pulled back when they got to the gate, seeming to recognize that it wasn't their wormhole.
The only advantage they had over the Wraith was that they knew exactly when the wormhole would close. Ford had his hand over the first symbol for the last ten seconds. He punched in the gate address.
"You know what this jumper needs? A redial button. Atlantis, are you there?"
When the gate technician's voice came back over the radio, he blew out a deep, relieved breath. Some of the darts started going through, though.
"Jumper One, we are getting inbound matter-streams."
"Keep the shield up!" Ford looked at McKay. "What the-"
"They don't realize we can remote dial the gate. They must think one of them dialed it, and they're not even bothering to radio in and check! Okay, maybe that one is, but I can take care of that..."
McKay saved the rest of the drones for any of the darts that were sending radio signals, but the majority just followed the herd through the gate, and into Atlantis's shields.
***
Ford dialed Atlantis twice more after that.
"We can't keep the gate open indefinitely," McKay said. "Might as well see what happens."
Nothing happened.
"They need time to regroup," Sheppard said in the morning, after the rubble had been cleared and people had begun returning to camp. "From their perspective, they sent over a hundred darts through the gate and they all disappeared, and then they couldn't redial that address. They're either going to decide something is wrong with this gate and give up on it-"
"Or they're going to come back with everything they've got and crush this planet like a bug."
"Not exactly a win-win situation."
Teyla joined them, covered in rock dust and scrapes, and did the Athosian forehead thing with each of them. Even McKay accepted it with good grace.
"Did Naasir and the kids make it?" Ford asked.
"I do not know. But-" She looked over at Ekevu, who was checking the feet of several ikit. His face was grim and ashen in the pale dawn light, and Ford knew what she was going to say.
"Mayasa didn't."
"She was with the last group, the group that was taken."
There was a moment of silence, then McKay said, "Does anybody else think it's interesting that the Wraith only came through the stargate?"
Ford still had no idea whether McKay did shit like that intentionally, or if he was just really oblivious.
"I assume that's a rhetorical question," Sheppard said dryly.
McKay waved that off. "When I was scanning for ships in orbit, I got some very interesting readings. The surface of the sun here is unusually active. We're talking class X solar flares every five to ten minutes. Fortunately, the atmosphere is very thick and the planet has a large magnetosphere, so we don't really notice it down here. But you wouldn't want to spend a lot of time in orbit without some seriously hardcore shielding."
"Shielding that Wraith ships don't have?"
"It's a good bet. I mean, using the gate to cull a planet? Really inefficient. Maybe the reason they don't send a Hive ship is that they can't."
"So if the gate were destroyed or, or disabled, the Wraith would not be able to cull this planet?" Teyla's eyes were fierce and intent as she spoke.
McKay hesitated. "If my theory is correct, yes."
"But they could just be using the gate because it's easier," Sheppard said. "Maybe they do have good shielding, and if we disabled the gate, they'd get the Hive ship out and come anyway. The Njeri would be sitting ducks."
"The Njeri are no less vulnerable now. Doctor McKay, can you prevent the Wraith from using the gate?"
"Off the top of my head, I can think of a dozen ways to disable the gate-from this side."
"But you could show the Njeri what to do, and they could do it after we left?"
"But then you've got a bunch of Njeri stuck in the middle of the Sahara Desert," Ford said.
"It is not an impossible journey," Teyla replied. "And anyone in the galaxy would take that risk if it meant even a chance of protecting their people from the Wraith."
"We could leave caches of water along the way," Sheppard said slowly.
"They could still get lost! Or there could be a sandstorm, or, or giant desert lizards!"
" 'Giant desert lizards'?" Sheppard said.
"They have them on this planet!"
"Do you have a better plan?" McKay asked.
"I could blow up the gate."
"Actually, no, I don't think there's enough C4 in the galaxy to destroy a stargate."
"No, I mean-they buried the one on Earth, right? I could set a shaped charge around the base, a couple more up on the hillside on a delayed timer, rig it all with a radio trigger. We go through, send the signal back, the base is destroyed, the gate falls down flat, the other charges go, create a landslide and cover the gate with sand."
Everyone stared at Ford for a moment.
"Okay, that would work," McKay said.
"I have to talk to Dhakiya," Teyla said, and left.
"Did you bring enough C4 for that?" McKay asked.
Ford gave him an offended look.
Sheppard grinned. "The answer to that question is always 'yes.' "
"Not always-apparently I didn't bring enough to blow up a stargate."
"Don't sound so disappointed," McKay said.
***
In the end, the most difficult logistic problem was getting all the clan leaders together in one place. Dhakiya said the gate belonged to all the people of that world, and the Isiyoshindika clan could not make that decision for them. So Sheppard played taxi driver for two days, half of which was spent tracking down the leader of the pale-skinned seafaring people that lived in the Shining Islands in the Sea of Malaika's Tears. (It turned out to be a wasted day, as they did not in fact believe in the existence of the stargate and had no polite opinions on what to do with it. Barbarians, Dhakiya sniffed.)
It took another day of talking for anything to be resolved. At lunchtime, they broke into two groups to eat, separated by the jumper, because of on-going blood feuds. Dhakiya and Teyla had to eat inside the jumper, because the Isiyoshindika clan had blood feuds with clans in both groups. Apparently trading was a contact sport on their planet.
"I do not know why this is such a difficult choice," Dhakiya sighed. "The oases were dry by my grandfather's grandfather's time, and we have not sent a caravan down to trade since then. The sky ring is only a symbol to us now, and what is a symbol compared to the welfare of my people?"
"When you give up the ring, you give up all the possibilities it presents. You put limits on the future. Safety or freedom," Teyla said, glancing at her team. "It is a hard choice."
When they left, Dhakiya kissed both her cheeks and said, "May your blood return to us, even if it is not borne in this heart."
They dialed a gate that was in orbit-somehow, it felt wrong to have an audience. Ford hesitated, holding the trigger. He didn't ask, Are you sure? because if the options were never seeing your family again or having them all eaten by space vampires, the choice was pretty easy. Instead he said, "I can do it, if you want."
Teyla took a deep breath. "No," she said. "I am honored to do this for them."
She took the detonator and flipped the switch, and after a moment, the light in the gate died.
End